Wire-drawing machine and uncoiling appliance therefor.



J. A. HORTON.

WIRE DRAWING MACHINE AND UNGOILING APPLIANCE THEREFOR.

APPLIOATION FILED APE.18, 1906.

960,01 6. Patented May 31, 1910.

M WW7 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE. arms a HOBTON, or raovmnncn, nnonn 15mm .assreiroii. 'ro moouoxs Manama I COMPANY, or NEW roan, N. Y., A conrona'rron or unwronx.

WIRE-DRAWING MACHINE AND UNCOILING APPLIANCE THEREFOR. I

Specification of Letters Patent. Patented May 31, 1910.

Application filed A ril 18, 1906. Serial No. 312,288.

To all whom it may camera:

,Be it known that I, JAMES A. HoR'roN, of Providence, in the county of Providence and State of Rhode Island, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Wire-Drawing Machines and Uncoiling Appliances Therefor, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to wire-drawing machines, and especial reference to the means for delivering the wire or the rod which is reduced to wire by the action of the machine, to a drawing-die.

It is customa to provide a holder for grease or other ubricatin'g material, adjacent to the die which efiects the first reduction of the rod, the holder being arranged so that the rod in entering the die passes through the lubricating material contained in the holder. If the rod is allowed to pass through the holder for the lubricant in a v ath from which there is practically no eviation, the rod will wear or' otherwise displace the lubricating material in such manneras toform a groove or tunnel therein. When this tunnel is formed, the wire will not have sufiicient contact with the lubricant to insure its proper lubrication.

slight or gradual twist, the twist being the same that is rovided by the usual hand operation of elivering or leading-in the convolutions from a co l, the operator lifting each convolution and delivering it toward the die with a rotating motion, which imparts one twist to each convolution of the wire. This twist is desirable, because of the fact thatthe wire rods are. seldom, if ever, indrical incross-section, but are usually ightly oval. If the rod is not thus twisted during the leading-in operation, the ends of tire major axis of its cross-section always strike the die in the same place, and soon wear the dieout of round. My invention enables this leading-in o eration to be automatically services 0 an operator for this pur ose.

Theinvention also has for its 0 ject to enable the automatic leading-in mechanism to be utilized for stopping the wire-drawing, in case of a tangle in the coil from which the wire is being drawn.

To these and other related ends, the invention consists in the improvements which I W111 now proceed to describe and claim.

Of the accompanying drawings, forming a part of this specification,+Figure 1 reprea wire-drawing machine, including my 1mproved uncoiling appliance. Fig, 2 represents a top plan view of the same. represents an enlargement of a portion of Flg. 1. Fig. 4 represents a section-on 4- of Fig. 3, and a plan view of the parts below said line.

The same reference characters indicate the same parts in all the figures.

In the drawings,12 represents a wiredrawing die, which maybe one of a.'series of dies employed in a continuous machine,

-or it may be an independentdie.

13 represents a receptacle for grease or other In ricant, located at the reeelving side of the die, in osition to subject a rod or wire entering t e die to contact with iubr icating material, the rod or wire passing through the'holder;

14 represents a holder for a coil 15 of wire rod or wire to be delivered to the die.

In the embodiment of m invention shown herein for purposes 0 illustration, the holder 14 is a stationary drum, the erip'hcry of which is surrounded by the 0011 15, a

suitable support being provided, below the" periphery of the drum, to sustain the weight of the coil; In uncoiling', the leading convolution passesupwardly, over the top of the drum, and thence to the die, through the lubricant-holder. I

In carryin out my invention, I provide means for swinging the stretch of wire passing from the coil-holder to the die, in such manneras to cause thepor'tion of the wire w'ithi n the lubricant-holder to move lwterally in the said holder, andthus'insure adequate lubrication of the wire before it enters the die. The best means known to me for rformed, an dispenses with the 'sents a side elevation, showing a portion of Fig. 3"

giving the wire this swinging motion comprise a guide 16 formed as a pulley, journaled in a suitable bearing supported by an arm 17, which is mounted to swing on a suitable support, such as a fixed standard 18 adjacent to the coil-holder 14. The hearing in which the guide 16 is journaled is preferably adapted to be movedindependently of the arm 17, by an abnormal strain on the wire, for a purpose hereinafter described. The arm 17 is adapted to oscillate to such an extent as to permit the guide 16 to swing across the upper end of the coilholder 14, and from side to side of the holder.

In this embodiment of my invention, a fixed coil-holder being employed, a revolving guide 19 is provided to engage the wire as it leaves the coil, said guide being ada ted to revolve about the coil-holder, and filllow the wire as it se arates from the coil. The guide 19 is pre erably a pulley journaled in the outer end of an arm 20, which is fixed to a shaft 21 journaled in bearings at the upper and lower portions of the coilholder. The wire passes from the guide 19 to the guide 16, and from the latter to the die. As the wire rises from the coil, it causes the revolution of the guide 19, and this in turn causes the guide 16 to swing or reciprocate laterally and thus impart a swinging movement to the stretch of wire between the coilholder and the die. This operation, besides insuring a sufiicient lubrication of the wire, imparts a twist. to the wire, similar to that imparted by the hand operation of leading-in.

The independently movable bearing in which the guide 16 is journaled is preferably the shorter arm of a lever 21, which is fulcrumed at 22 to the swinging arm 17. To the longer arm of the lever 21 is connected a spring 23 (for which a weight may obviously be substituted), the object of said spring being to normally hold the guide 16 in a predetermined position, the longer arm of the lever 21 bearing against a suitable stop 24 aflixed to the arm 17. The stress of the spring 23, or its equivalent, is such that when the wire is running under normal conditions, its tension will not overcome the spring. When, however, an abnormal strain is exerted by the wire on the guide,

such as would be caused by the untangling of the wire in the coil, the spring yields, permitting the descent of the guide 16 and an upward movement of the lon er arm of the lever 21. This movement 0 the lever may be utilized to stop the wire-drawing machine in any suitable way, such, for instance, as by breaking the circuit, in an electrically driven machine.

25 represents what may be called a separator, which is interposed between the revolving guide 19 and the coil 15, the object ably formed as a hook, one end of which is at tached to the arm 20, its other end extending under the guide 19, and being bent upwardly at the opposite side of the arm, a

space being preferably left between this end and the arm, for the insertion of the wire. The separator 25, by extending under the guide 19, prevents the wire from dropping out of engagement with said guide, in case of temporary slackening of the tension.

The pulleys forming the guides 16 and 19 are preferably made of a material which is softer than the wire, to prevent abrasion of the wire and of the coating placedthereon to facilitate the passage through the die. Any suitable material may be employed, such as bronze, or a non-metallic material, such as hard wood.

I claim:

1. An uncoiling appliance comprising a coilholder, and a reciprocatable guide adapted to engage and laterally swing the stretch of material passing from a coil on the holder.

2. An uncoiling appliance comprising a fixed coil-holder, a reciprocatable guide adapted to engage and laterally swing the stretch of material passing from a coil on the holder and a revolving guide movable in a path substantially concentric with the holder, and engaging the wire between the coil and the reciprocating guide.

3. An uncoiling appliance comprising a coil-holder, a reciprocatable guide adapted to engage and laterally swing the stretch of material passing from a coil on the holder, an arm mounted to revolve on a fixed center and having a guide at its outer end movable in a path substantially concentric with the holder, said arm having a separator interposed between the guide and the coil on the holder.

4. An uncoiling appliance comprising a coil-holder, a guide arranged to engage the stretch of material passing from a coil on the holder, and guide-supporting means having provisions for permitting a sidewise movement of the guide to swing the stretch of wire, and a yielding movement of the guide under an increase of strain on the material engaged therewith.

5. In a wire drawing machine, the combination with a wire drawing die, a lubricantholder adjacent thereto, a guide adapted to engage a stretch of material passing through the lubricant-holder and die, and means for movably supportin the guide, said means having provisions or permitting the guide to oscillate in the directions required to laterally swing the stretch of material in the lubricant-holder.

6. In a wire drawing machine, the combi- In testimony whereof I have aflixed my nation with a wire drawing die and a lubrisignature, in presence of two witnesses. cant-holder adjacent thereto, of a coil-holder adjacent to the die, and a reciprocatable guide JAMES HORTON 5 adapted to engage and laterally swing a Witnesses:

stretch of material passing from the coil- C. F. BROWN,

holder to the lubricant-holder and die. E. BATOHELDER. 

